A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Alexandria Flooded Again, Much of Egypt's Delta as Well, as Yemen, Oman Get a Cyclone

Ahram Online
Even as the usually arid US states of Arizona and Texas (both rich in climate change deniers), have been underwater much of the week, Egypt's second city of Alexandria has flooded for the second time in recent weeks, sparking the trending Twitter hashtag
اسكندريه_بتغرق# (Alexandria is Drowning). But it's not just the coast; much of the northern Delta is under water, and photos from the inland city of Tanta and even the usually desert Wadi Natrun are facing flooding. And winter hasn't yet begun. Some Egyptian tweets are referencing the Ten Plagues of Moses.

I won't bring up Tropical Cyclone Chapala, which has been hitting Yemen and Oman with hurricane-levels of rainfall exceeding several years worth of the norm.

What's wrong with this picture? (Hint: That's not the coastal monsoon; Hadramaut and Dhofar are getting a decade's worth of rainfall all at once.)
If I didn't have US politicians assuring me climate change is a myth, I might start to get worried.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If Rabin had lived, this wouldn't have happened. After he had made peace with Arafat, he no doubt would have turned to solving climate change.